Christian Living on Conversion

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The Payoff

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Keywords

Scripture

Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Matthew 26:26-28, Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7, John 6:35

If we are honest with ourselves, for many of us who celebrate the sacraments on a regular basis, at times we take them for granted. We lose sight of their nature to inspire and remind us of our covena...

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Embodying a Decision

Author

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 6:2, Matthew 4:19-20, Hebrews 11:8, Acts 2:37-38, Mark 10:50

Billy Graham had a weekly radio show titled The Hour of Decision. Normally it was a tape recording of the service and message he’d given at a recent evangelistic rally. And at the conclusion of every ...

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Author

Ambrose Bierce

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Scripture

Matthew 13:34, Ezra 7:10, Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, Romans 10:14-15, Luke 4:18-19

HOMILETICS, n. The science of adapting sermons to the spiritual needs, capacities and conditions of the congregation.

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Author

J. Richard Middleton

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Scripture

Matthew 25:34-40, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 21:12-13, Luke 10:25-37, Romans 12:2, Matthew 5:13-16

To focus our expectation in an otherworldly salvation has the potential to dissipate our resistance to societal evil and the dedication needed to work for the redemptive transformation of this world.

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Author

Martin Luther

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Scripture

John 3:5, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3:21, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 2:38

Thus, we must regard baptism and put it to use in such a way that we may draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and say: ‘But I am baptized! And if I have been bapti...

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Living God, Holy Inferno

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 4:4, Exodus 3:1-15, Malachi 3:2-3, Acts 2:1-21, Exodus 13:21, John 1:4-5

Living God Holy Inferno Who revealed yourself as Burning Bush Pillar of Flame Dancing Tongues of Fire Illumine your children, so we may know your will Refine your children, till our souls burn to do...

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Invocation of the Holy Spirit

Author

The Northumbria Community

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Scripture

John 14:26, Acts 9:1-19, Matthew 17:1-8, Isaiah 61:1, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:1-41

Most powerful Holy Spirit, come down upon us and subdue us. From heaven, where the ordinary is made glorious, and glory seems but ordinary, bathe us with the brilliance of Your light like dew.

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The Flow of Abundance

Author

Mark Scandrette

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 19:16-30, Acts 2:42-47

We are meant to be part of the flow of abundance: to open our hands to receive what we need and share what we have with others. Jesus taught his followers to be radically generous when he said: “Sell ...

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Author

Harold Best

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:27, John 15:4-5, Galatians 2:20, Luke 24:13-35, Acts 2:1-4, Romans 12:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Nonetheless, this singular fact, full to the bursting, remains. It is a fact grounded in infinite outpouring: Christ is in me; I am in Christ. . . . Christ in me is not some narrow, introspective, dis...

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What Keeps us from Experiencing Renewal

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 2 Kings 22:23, Isaiah 58:6-7, Psalm 119:105, Matthew 5:17-20 , Acts 2:42-47

There’s a quote by H. Richard Niebuhr that I believe is absolutely true. “The great Christian revolutions,” he argued, “come not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen w...

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Author

Richard Halverson

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Timothy 3:1-13, 1 John 1:3, Acts 17:16-34, Romans 12:4-8, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 14:6, Matthew 16:18

In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an in...

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Repent and Believe in Me

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 11:6-9, Daniel 7:13-14, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, 2 Peter 3:10-13, Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38

N. T. Wright relates a story from Josephus that illustrates the meaning of "repent and believe" in the first century. Around AD 66, Josephus made a military expedition to Galilee to put dow...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:14, Colossians 1:19, John 2:11, Acts 2:22, Matthew 9:35

Just as every natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and moment of Nature's total character, so every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the ...

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O God, whose glory it is always to have

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Scripture

Acts 2:, John 16:8, Isaiah 40:8, 2 Samuel 12:1-13, Psalm 51:17

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchan...

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The Circle of Giving

Author

Timothy Jennings

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 6:38, Acts 20:35, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, Proverbs 11:24-25, Mark 12:41-44, Acts 2:42-47

In all life we see this circle of giving, which is the law of love. Consider electricity: when electricity moves through metal wires it does so by the movement of electrons from one atom to another. T...

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Welcomed Guests

Author

Rowan Williams

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 25:6, Matthew 26:26-28, Acts 2:42-46, Psalm 23:5-6, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 6:56, Revelation 3:20

For Christians, to share in the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, means to live as people who know that they are always guests – that they have been welcomed and that they are wanted. It is, perhaps, the...

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Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 12:33-34, Luke 18:28-30, Acts 2:44-45, Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 14:26

Family and property, then, were not for the ancient Jew simply what they are to the modern western world. Both carried religious and cultural significance far beyond personal, let alone “individual,” ...

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Almighty God, we pray for your

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Scripture

1 Peter 5:10, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 9:20-22, Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 73:26

Almighty God, we pray for your blessing on the church in this place. Here may the faithful find salvation, and the careless be awakened. Here may the doubting find faith, and the anxious be encou...

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Jumping out of the Bible

Author

Francis Chan

Keywords

The Bible

Scripture

Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 58:10, Luke 14:13-14, James 1:27

In Francis Chan’s latest book “Letters to the Church,” he shares about his first year after leaving his large church in suburban Los Angeles to start something new. It was something Francis himself wa...

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Creator of all things, Alpha and

Author

John Birch

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:1-4, John 13:1-17, Luke 10:25-37, John 4:1-26, John 14:16-17, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Isaiah 61:1

Creator of all things, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Father, Shepherd, Servant, Brother, Priest and King. Whose love poured out mends broken hearts. Whose wounded hands reach out to all. Whose S...

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Adapted from Ephesians 3:18-19

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:18-19, Acts 2:42-47, John 13:1-17, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 103:11-12, 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:38-39

I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and heig...

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God–Creator of the universe, Redeemer

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:42-47, Philippians 2:1-5, Mark 2:1-2, Matthew 14:13-21, Luke 10:25-37, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

God–Creator of the universe, Redeemer of humanity, Sustainer of your people, and our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. You hold the galaxies in the palm of your hand–and yet You know each of us by nam...

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Author

Lesslie Newbigin

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 22:37-40, Ephesians 4:15-16, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Genesis 12:3

From its very beginning the Bible sees human life in terms of relationships...The Bible does not speak about "humanity" but about "all the families of the earth" or "all the n...

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Adapted from Acts 2:42-46

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:42-46

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread; and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ...

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The Church's Funeral

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:15-16, Revelation 3:1-3, James 2:17, Matthew 16:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:4-5, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 3:9

The story goes about a young man (or woman!) with dreams of growing a small church nestled in rural Oklahoma. Despite his relentless efforts, the church continued to teeter on the edge of extinction a...

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Author

Glen Scrivener

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:16-17, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 2:38, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Titus 3:5-6, Galatians 4:6

The piling on of grace upon grace is incredible. God had given us his Son. We killed him. In response God says, “I want to forgive you and offer another ‘family member,’ so to speak.” It was a case of...

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Using Aslan to Explain the Gospel

Author

Scott McKnight

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:15, Acts 2:24, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Isaiah 53:5, John 10:27-28

If I am asked to break the gospel and a gospel culture down into simple statements, I would borrow imagery from the man from Northern Ireland, from Belfast, C. S. Lewis. From The Lion, the Witch and t...

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The Meaning of Rituals

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 12:14, Exodus 13:8-9, Joshua 4:6-7, Acts 2:42, Joel 2:15-16

Rituals are procedures or routines that are fused with meaning. Ritual actions include various rites of passage (birth, marriage, death) or calendrical rites (religious holy days, national holidays), ...

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Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

The Kingdom of God

Scripture

Hebrews 10:24-25, Ephesians 4:11-13, Acts 2:42-47, Colossians 1:18, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Ephesians 2:19-22

Churches are not the kingdom of God, but are primary and inevitable expressions, outposts, and instrumentalities of the presence of the kingdom among us.

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We praise and thank you, O Lord, that

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Scripture

Psalm 119:103, Luke 22:19, Psalm 34:18, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:16-17, Matthew 6:9-13, Numbers 6:24-26, Matthew 25:36, Psalm 33:12, Romans 8:26, Acts 1:8, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Acts 2:42

We praise and thank you, O Lord, that you have fed us with your Word [and at your table]. Grateful for your gifts and mindful of the communion of your saints, we offer to you our prayers for all pe...

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